


look at you strawberry blonde (i love it when you call my name)

by peterparkerpeterparker



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alive Noah Czerny, M/M, also i don't explain how noah got brought back to life, and it IS possible so here we are, anyways czeng rights, i dont know how to skateboard so, i just watched youtube videos to make sure you could hold hands with someone while you learn, idk man i'm just really soft for czeng, it's not a plot hole it's a creative choice, oh also there's a lot of pining in this as always, so just use your imagination it's fine everything is fine, title is from strawberry blonde by mitski bc it's a czeng song now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 04:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21220487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterparkerpeterparker/pseuds/peterparkerpeterparker
Summary: Henry asks Noah to help him learn how to skateboard. They discuss mind reading and spotify.





	look at you strawberry blonde (i love it when you call my name)

Henry Cheng was going to learn how to skateboard. 

Not that he’d ever had much interest in it. He had more bruises than ever, and had exhausted his supply of pixar themed band-aids from the bathroom cabinet trying to patch up the collection of scratches on his arms and legs. And face. And hands.

No, he was interested in  _ someone _ who was interested in skateboarding. So, to get the attention of someone who was interested in skateboarding, he should learn how to skateboard. Ask Noah to teach him to skateboard, fall in love, get married. Easy enough. It had felt simple enough to past Henry. 

Past Henry was an idiot.

“Fuck.” He hissed as he fell off the board, skinning his forearm. Noah quickly bent down, offering his hand to help him up. 

This is why Henry was interested in skateboarding. 

The skateboarder in question pulled him up off the ground.

“I think my dream of being a professional skateboarder is shot.” Henry joked, trying to ignore the shooting pain in his arm.

Noah smiled then, forcing every coherent thought out of Henry’s mind. 

Being around Noah was amazing. It felt warm. Noah felt like the sun, and he had just walked outdoors after being inside all winter. He warmed Henry through. Noah positively glowed and radiated warmth wherever he went. 

_ He was just like that _ , Henry mused. 

Henry realized that Noah had been waiting for him to say something.

“What?” Henry sputtered.

“I said, do you want to try again?” Noah repeated cheerfully. 

“Sure!” Henry sucked in a breath. 

So far, his plan hadn’t been going exactly as planned.

He’d constructed an elaborate daydream in his head that involved Noah delicately holding his hand while he learned to skateboard, leading into them softly kissing each other and skating off into the sunset together. He had an entire spotify playlist dedicated to it.

So far, there’d been less romance and far more swearing and scuffed knees.

Weirdly enough, there hadn’t been any grand romantic gesture behind him giving Noah the skateboard in the first place. Noah had mentioned offhand that he’d loved skateboarding when he was alive, and Henry thought it might make his transition back into being alive easier if he had something from his old life. Of course, if he’d known the role that a skateboard had played in Noah’s  _ literal murder _ , he may have gotten him something else. 

Rollerblades, maybe? A chess board?

Anyways, Henry had shown up the next day at Monmouth, brandishing a skateboard with a huge bow on it. 

“Woah, thanks, dude!” Noah had immediately jumped up from where he’d been sitting on Gansey’s bed. “That’s awesome!” 

Noah beamed, taking and rotating the board in front of him. Gansey stayed sat behind, a deeply horrified look on his face. 

Henry had later gotten the full story about the skateboard/murder weapon in a hushed tone behind the closed door of the kitchen/bathroom with Gansey. 

Henry was terrified his gift would do the opposite as it was intended - make Noah dwell on the past rather than his future, but it didn’t seem to matter. After that day, Noah spent most of his time skateboarding around the road outside Monmouth. Inside Monmouth too, but Gansey put a quick stop to that after Noah took an accidental spill down the mainstreet of his cardboard Henrietta model. 

“Oh! Your knee pad,” Noah broke through Henry’s train of thought, pointing at the knee pad that was barely holding on and bringing Henry back to the present. 

“Hold up.” He quickly kneeled down and adjusted the straps. Henry tried his very hardest to focus on the ground next to Noah and definitely  _ not _ the way that Noah was brushing his leg with his fingers while fumbling with the straps and definitely  _ not _ the way Henry’s face was burning and definitely  _ not _ how close they were and -

“Okay cool! All ready!” He grinned, standing back up, oblivious to the internal torment that Henry had suffered through the past minute.

“Can we just, can we take a break for a minute?” Henry asked, suddenly exhausted by the idea of doing this again. 

“Oh, yeah! For sure.” Noah plopped himself down on the pavement. Henry followed, albeit more gingerly.

For a moment they just sat there.

Henry stared at Noah.

Noah stared at Henry.

“Do you miss being a ghost?” Henry blurted out. He immediately felt like an idiot. How to flirt by Henry Cheng, chapter 1: ask the object of your affection if they miss being dead.

“Yes and no, honestly.” Noah smiled softly, looking at the ground. “There are parts of being a ghost that was nice, actually. But mostly I think I like being alive. Before, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to be alive again. But turns out I do.” If Henry had embarrassed Noah with his question, Noah didn’t show it at all, which was a relief. 

“Which parts do you miss?” Henry didn’t know if he should change the subject, but he was too curious. How often do you get a firsthand recollection of being a ghost? 

And, of course, it was the opportunity to have another conversation with Noah. He didn’t often have the opportunity to hang out with Noah alone, and he wanted to appreciate it as much as could when he got it.

“Being able to just. Think about where I wanted to be and then just, like, appear there? That was cool. Being able to hear people’s thoughts was always helpful.” 

“Wait, what?” This was news to Henry.  _ Mind reading _ ? Could he read his mind  _ now _ ?  _ Oh my god _ -

“Oh! Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t know that, because we didn’t really know each other when I was a ghost. It wasn’t like. Word for word what someone was thinking, but I could catch snippets. If they’re thinking about something hard enough or they’re really emotional about it. And I could usually feel whatever they were feeling.” 

“Woah. That’s pretty cool, actually.” Henry was impressed, and also incredibly relieved that Noah’s ghostly telepathy hadn’t followed him into his new life. “Did everyone else know about that? They never mentioned it. Before, I mean.”

“Yeah! Yeah, well, I think.” Noah stared behind Henry, deep in thought. “Well, I told Ronan. Because we were closest and it felt like, dishonest for him not to know? Does that make sense?” Henry nodded. 

“And Blue figured it out on her own, and so did the others, I think. We never really talked about it, but I think they caught on when I’d accidentally answer a thought they hadn’t spoken out loud.”

“And, you miss that? Being able to hear everyone’s thoughts?” Henry sat back, placing his palms behind him and leaning back on the warm pavement.

“I don’t know. I guess,” Noah stared down at the ground, tracing his fingers in a circle. “Not so much hearing people’s exact thoughts. I always felt bad about that, like it’s an invasion of privacy, you know. But I guess, it was easier? To, I mean, just be able to know what people were thinking and how they felt, like,  _ about me _ .” He got quiet during the last sentence, his face turning red. 

_ How they felt about me _ . Henry turned the words over and over in his head. Did this mean what he thought it meant? Was Noah hinting at having feelings for Henry? Feelings that Henry also had for Noah? Was now the time? Should he make a move? He could reach out and hold his hand, or maybe say  _ “oh well actually I can tell you exactly how I feel, I can even show you with a well curated 2 hour spotify playlist I made-” _

“But anyways.” Noah glanced up at Henry, and then away, face still bright red. “Do you miss when I was a ghost? I bet it was a lot easier for you when I wasn’t subjecting you to this.” He grinned and gestured to the skateboard on the ground next to them.

He’d missed the moment. 

Noah had handed him an opportunity to tell him how he feels about him on a silver platter and Henry had missed it. He could’ve told Noah how he felt and they’d be, I don’t know, skating off into the sunset together (or better yet, walking) and Henry had wasted his window of opportunity by  _ daydreaming _ . 

“No.” Henry said slowly, gathering himself. “I think I like you better when I can see you.” He said, suddenly bold. 

Noah grinned at him.

“Our conversations are certainly more lively now.” Henry went on. “I like this new, alive, Noah.”

Not that he hadn’t liked Noah when he’d still been a ghost, of course. It’s just hard to build a friendship where you can’t see or hear the other person. 

Not that Henry hadn’t tried. He tried to talk to Noah when he heard the others make comments to what seemed like thin air. He even started assuming that Noah was always in the room, taking care to introduce himself and ask about his day. It just started to get awkward when Gansey or Blue would explain to him that Noah wasn’t even in the room in the first place. Weeks of talking to empty rooms and even a few failed ouija board attempts later, Henry had all but given up on making friends with Monmouth’s very own Casper. 

Of course, that had all been changed when  _ Cabeswater _ happened and they found Noah at Fox Way, very much alive and very much, well, kind of beautiful. 

“Well, I’m glad. It’s nice to be able to sit here and talk to you. Where you can actually hear me. Finally.” Noah smiled, and Henry couldn’t help but smile too. 

“Okay, well, do you want to practice some more?” Noah jumped up, brushing dirt off his legs.

“Uh, yeah! Totally!” Henry lied. He stood up anyways.

Henry stood there, hesitating to get onto the board. He thought of the fresh scrape on his arm, suddenly rethinking how essential this skateboarding plan was to their future love story.

Noah stared at him.

Henry stared back. He didn’t move. 

“Do you want to try it on your own again? Or…” He said slowly, gauging Henry’s reaction. “Or I could hold onto you while you try?” 

“Yeah, yeah that might be a good idea!” Henry said quickly, trying to sound nonchalant at the idea of holding Noah’s hands. 

Henry gingerly stepped onto the skateboard, and tried not to blush again when Noah took his hands in his. Henry started the skateboard going forward, as slowly as humanly possible. 

“So, uh,” Henry started awkwardly, trying to look at both Noah and the ground in front of him. He started going faster on the board, still holding onto Noah. “I made you another spotify playlist, like, of songs that I thought you’d like? Since you know, you missed out on a lot of songs, while you were, you know, not on this mortal coil.” Henry laughed nervously, talking too fast. He hated the way he was around Noah. Ever since Noah had come back and they’d been officially introduced, it had gotten more and more difficult to be the same funny and somewhat charming Henry he thought he usually was. 

“Oh?” Noah asked, watching the ground beneath their feet. “Here, try to make a turn here.”

Henry shifted his weight to one side, trying to copy what Noah had shown him earlier. 

“Hey that’s great!” Noah exclaimed. 

Henry panicked. He didn’t sound happy about the playlist. Did he think it was creepy that he’d made him the playlist? Was this creepy? Was this something that seemed like a good idea at 2 AM and was actually cringey in the light of day? 

_Oh_ _no_. Henry had made a joke about Noah being a ghost. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Henry had never been wandering the earth as a ghost for seven years, but he had a hunch that he wouldn’t like it very much if people made jokes about it. Even if he was alive again. 

Should he apologize? Or would that make it worse? Like  _ haha Noah sorry for reminding you about that time you were murdered and then making a dumb joke about it because I was nervous about my spotify playlist that I spent two hours making last night making sure it was perfect because the thing is that I think I’m actually in love with you and - _

“That’s super sweet about the playlist!” Noah interrupted Henry’s frantic thoughts with a cheery air. “We should go up to my room after we’re done practicing and listen to it, if you want.” 

Henry could burst. 

“Yeah! I, I’d really, that would be nice!” He stammered out. Noah smiled. It was the same smile that Henry always found himself lost in. 

Henry stared at Noah.

Noah stared at Henry.

The skateboard hit a crack in the pavement.

The next thing Henry registered was the thunk his helmet made when it connected with the pavement. He was suddenly thankful he’d let Noah talk him into wearing the helmet, even though it hid his hair.

The very next thing Henry registered was the weight falling on top of him, realizing that he had accidentally pulled Noah down with him during the fall.

They were on top of each other.

Noah lifted his head off of where he’d hit it on Henry’s shoulder.

There were only a few inches between their faces.

“Ow.” Henry’s head was spinning, for more than one reason.

“Are you okay?” Noah leaned away quickly, examining Henry. 

“Yeah! Yeah,” He stared at Noah, inches above him. “I’m fine.” He swallowed.

Henry stared at Noah.

Noah stared at Henry.

Henry glanced at Noah’s lips. 

Noah leaned forward, slowly, as if trying not to spooky Henry off. Tentatively, he pushed a stray hair out of Henry’s eyes. 

He leaned in and pressed his lips against Henry’s.

His lips were soft, gently brushing against his own. Warmth spread throughout Henry’s chest. He reached up, resting one hand against Noah’s cheek, the other tangling itself into Noah’s hair. The warmth in Henry’s chest continued to consume him until he felt like he was burning.

Noah pulled back, a soft smile on his lips.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” Henry breathed, still running his hands through Noah’s hair.

“I think I have you beat on that one.” Noah confessed and blushed, the tips of his ears even turning pink.

Noah adjusted himself so he was upright, kneeling over Henry.

“So,” Noah started, drawing out the word. “Do you actually want to learn how to skateboard today? Or we could just go upstairs and listen to that playlist.” 

Henry sat up quickly, unbuckling his helmet. 

“ _ Please _ .” 

Henry Cheng could not have cared any less about learning to skateboard at that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello thanks for reading! leave a comment if you want, i thrive off validation from strangers on the internet and it would probably make my day. come hang out with me @jasonnfunderburker on tumblr if you want! (also a special thank you to @aroace-steve-rogers on tumblr for helping me edit this!)


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